Crypto Guides, Knowledge & Insights

Understanding the difference between an exchange and a broker: A guide for all Crypto traders

There have been several cases of cryptocurrency traders who felt disappointed after purchasing Bitcoin and other Cryptocurrencies from a given broker and found themselves unable to transfer them to their storage wallets or other crypto exchange to sell. Some felt they have been scammed or denied the right to transfer their purchased crypto assets. Well, this is caused by the gross misunderstanding of the nature of services provided by the brokers. Forex brokers are known to provide an option for crypto trading on their platforms as only CFDs. Trading Cryptocurrency as CFDs means there is no legal ownership of the assets purchased. This means the assets purchased cannot be transferred from the brokers platform to ones storage wallet or any other desired destination. We have therefore highlighted these differences between a broker and an exchange for all crypto traders to know the difference.　　Difference between a broker and an exchange　　Ownership of assets: There is no ownership of crypto assets purchased through a broker. This is because all crypto assets purchased through a broker are considered as CFDs. This is quite different from trading Cryptocurrency using an exchange as the latter offers traders legal ownership of assets purchased when they are bought

2022-07-18Deep Dive

Uniswap Price Increases Despite Robinhood Listing

On July 14, the American trading platform Robinhood announced the official listing of Uniswaps native UNI token in its crypto sector. The uni token has somewhat recovered, but upward pressure remains.　　Uniswap is a fully decentralized, transparent, and censorship-resistant protocol built on the Ethereum platform that serves as a financial infrastructure for automated liquidity. ERC-20 tokens can be exchanged using Uniswap. Uniswap is a decentralized exchange in a nutshell.　　In 2020, Uniswap, a decentralized exchange platform and on-chain market maker, will launch its own governance token called Uni.　　According to CoinMarketCap, UNI increased by 14 percent within 24 hours of its listing.　　One $UNI coin is currently worth $6.95, with a 24-hour trading volume of $250,296,608.　　Yesterday, Uniswap gained a long string of green bullish “candles,” along with an increase in trading volume and a break above the previous resistance point of $6.5. The bulls are currently attempting to hold the key psychological barrier for UNI at $6.5 on the daily candlestick chart.　　At the time of writing, the UNI/USD exchange rate had risen from $7.04 to $7.26. The recent price recovery has reclaimed these moving averages and is expected to provide some support; if the support is strong enough, bullish momentum could push UNI to

2022-07-18Deep Dive

OpenSea will lay off 20% of its workforce.

OpenSea has become the latest victim of the ongoing crypto winter, deciding to reduce its workforce.　　According to the Wall Street Journal (WSJ), the non-fungible token (NFT) marketplace has announced that it will lay off one-fifth, or 20%, of its workforce.　　OpenSea, one of the largest marketplaces for NFTs, has indicated that approximately 57 people will be laid off, despite the fact that it now employs 230 people.　　According to TechCrunch, the companys LinkedIn page lists 769 employees, implying that approximately 150 people lost their jobs.　　Chief Executive Devin Finzer stated in an internal memo to employees, which was also shared on Twitter, that the company would provide severance and healthcare coverage to those laid off until 2023. Finzer also mentioned that accelerated equity vesting will be available.　　“The changes were making today position us to maintain multiple years of runway under various crypto winter scenarios (5 years at current volume) and give us high confidence that we only have to go through this process once,” Finzer explained.　　The layoffs contradict Finzers claims in January following the receipt of $300 million in venture capital funding, when he stated that the funds would be used to hire 90 new employees and establish a fund for creators.　　As the

2022-07-18Deep Dive

Is Dubai the Next Cryptocurrency Exchange Hub?

Many jurisdictions around the world are now interacting in various ways with the digital currency ecosystem. Among the Gulf nations, Dubai is one of the most active influencers.　　While many state actors see it as a threat, a much larger number of others see it as an opportunity.　　With the slew of licenses granted to cryptocurrency exchanges today, Dubai appears to be one of the latter. According to Blockchain.News, OKX, one of the leading crypto exchanges in the digital currency ecosystem, is one of the most recent in the industry to be granted permission to operate in Dubai.　　The Dubai Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (VARA) granted the crypto trading platform a provisional virtual assets (VA) license, allowing it to offer targeted crypto products to qualifying investors, according to the announcement.　　While the move complements the exchanges efforts to go global, emphasizing, among other things, its compliance capabilities, it speaks much more to VARAs generosity and forward-thinking position. Based on the approval of the new license, the trading platform intends to open a new regional office in Dubai in order to pursue a more comprehensive engagement in the region.　　“The MENA region is one of our industrys fastest growing markets, and we are very excited to

2022-07-18Deep Dive

Avalanche's John Wu: TradFi Interest in Crypto ‘Has Absolutely Not Waned’

It may be crypto winter, but traditional financial institutions are sticking around and continuing to influence the space, says Ava Labs President John Wu.　　Ava Labs operates the Ethereum sidechain Avalanche, a smart contract platform designed around sustainability and speed thats home to services for staking, lending, and trading cryptocurrency, including dapps SushiSwap and Nexo. AVAX, up more than 9% over the last 24 hours, according to CoinMarketCap, now has a market cap in excess of $6 billion.　　Wu said companies like JPMorgan Chase and Société Générale-Forge, a subsidiary of one of Frances largest investment banks, are examples of how financial institutions are still innovating during crypto winter and paving the way for broader crypto adoption.　　“The institutions who are trying to apply the blockchain technology to either streamline or to do new tokenization of real world assets, their interest has absolutely not waned,” Wu told Decrypt at Avalanche House in Brooklyn on Friday.　　JPMorgan already uses its own stablecoin, JPM Coin—backed 1:1 by the U.S. dollar—as a tokenized form of U.S. dollar deposits helping facilitate transactions for institutional clients. Wu sees the project as a notable on-ramp for institutional investors looking to ease into crypto.　　He referenced recent efforts from JPMorgan with the Monetary

2022-07-18Deep Dive

CZ: As ‘Pure Web3 Company,’ Binance Has No Plans to Offer Stock Trading

Regardless of how many new users it could attract, Binance isnt interested in offering users the ability to trade stocks.　　CEO Changpeng Zhao told on the latest gm podcast that cryptocurrency exchanges offering the feature are neither right nor wrong, but he emphasized that swapping equities doesn‘t align with his company’s philosophy.　　And while stock trading has proven a lucrative market for many retail investment platforms, such as Robinhood and Webull, CZ said hed rather see Binance focus on building more Web3 tools.　　“We are a pure Web3 company,” CZ said. “We‘re not going back, we’re moving forward.”　　The CEO added that Binance is eyeing a few companies as potential acquisition targets during the bear market, but that none of those would revolve around the exchange of traditional equities. CZ also suggested the potential deals would be more “simple” than a complicated loan structure or bailout.　　“That is not to say that complex deals are bad,” CZ said. “But my preference is always keep everything very simple, very straightforward, boil everything down to very basic core principles, and go from there.”　　He also commented directly on the $500 million line of credit extended to bankrupt crypto broker Voyager Digital by Sam Bankman-Frieds Alameda Research: “I would

2022-07-18Deep Dive

Finance Redefined: DeFi market fell off the cliff in Q2, but there’s hope

Analytical data reveals that DeFis total value locked registered a minor dip from the past week, falling to a value of $56.45 billion.　　Welcome to Finance Redefined, your weekly dose of key decentralized finance (DeFi) insights, a newsletter crafted to bring you some of the major developments over the last week.　　This past week, the DeFi ecosystem saw several new developments despite a bearish phase brought on by the lending crisis in the crypto market. Another crypto lender, Celsius, with high stakes in DeFi protocols, filed for bankruptcy. The overall DeFi market fell to new lows in the second quarter. However, a new report indicates users havent given up hope.　　BNB Chain launched a new decentralized application (DApp) platform with an alarm feature. Vermont state regulator opened an investigation into troubled crypto lender Celsius, deeming it deeply insolvent. A DeFi researcher has predicted that Ethereum proof-of-stake (PoS) can help Ether (ETH) overtake Bitcoin (BTC).　　The DeFi tokens saw a new flow of bullish momentum over the past couple of days owing to a market-wide green momentum after the inflation data release.　　DeFi market fell off cliff in Q2, but users havent given up hope: Report　　Despite the DeFi market suffering a 74.6% market cap decline in

2022-07-17Deep Dive

Bitcoin whales still 'hibernating' as BTC price nears $21K

Bitcoin price recovers 11% from the weeks lows as one trader targets $21,700 next.　　Bitcoin (BTC) hit $21,000 for the first time in several days on July 15 as markets enjoyed what one trader called “summer relief.”　　BTC/USD 1-hour candle chart (Bitstamp). Source: TradingViewAltcoin rebound eyed as BTC price adds 11%　　Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView showed BTC/USD grinding higher overnight to just tap the $21,000 mark on Bitstamp on the day.　　A noticeable change of tact had set in after initial losses on the back of forty-year highs for the United States Consumer Price Index (CPI). Versus the July 13 lows, BTC/USD was thus up 11%.　　“Summer relief time,” Cointelegraph contributor Michaël van de Poppe summarized.　　Popular trader Crypto Tony was also in the mood for modest optimism on short timeframes, eyeing a move to $21,700 for profit-taking.　　“If we get this, then Alts can continue to enjoy a nice pump and relief rally,” he added in a further tweet.　　Many major altcoins had responded well to the uptick in BTC price action, with Ether (ETH) making a noticeable rebound to cap over 12% daily gains.　　Others in the top ten cryptocurrencies by market cap also fared well, with only Solana (SOL) nonetheless managing to beat

2022-07-16Deep Dive

Funding for Crypto Startups Falls to One-Year Low

According to Bloomberg, digital currencies, public stocks, and venture capital backing crypto startups have finally cooled down after experiencing massive growth as a result of the effects of an economic storm.　　According to Bloomberg, which cited data from the research firm PitchBook, funding for private crypto firms fell to its lowest level in a year in the second quarter.　　Prior to the economic downturn, the rising popularity of cryptocurrencies helped set a record of $9.85 billion in venture capital raised in the first quarter. According to Bloomberg, this only indicated how long it would take for venture capital deals to be completed.　　“Even though the crypto market started slowing down in November, December, those deals were already in the works, so they closed in the first quarter,” said Robert Le, a PitchBook fintech analyst.　　The second quarter provided a clearer picture of the impact of the economic turmoil on cryptocurrency firms. According to PitchBook, venture capitalists invested $6.76 billion in cryptocurrency companies in the three months ending in June, a 31% decrease from the previous quarter.　　Bloomberg reported that “the crypto industry now mirrors the sluggish activity among tech and venture capital investors.”　　“Everyone is very hesitant to close deals right now,” Le explained.　　The collapse of

2022-07-15Deep Dive

Animoca Brands Receives New Funding of $75 Million

Animoca Brands announced a $75 million funding round in its latest round.　　Investors backed the digital entertainment, blockchain, and gamification firm at a subscription price of A$4.50 per share for a total of 23,237,058 new shares, according to the fundraising details. Following this increase, the company now has 1,836,142,334 fully paid ordinary shares on the market.　　This funding round values Animoca Brands at $5.9 billion pre-money, with high-profile investors such as Liberty City Ventures, Kingsway Capital, Alpha Wave Ventures, 10T, SG Spring Limited Partnership Fund, Generation Highway Ltd, Cosmic Summit Investments Limited, and others participating.　　The funding round builds on the $358 million boosts the company received in January, when its valuation was still set at $5 billion.　　“Digital property rights represent a society-defining generational shift that affects everyone online and will pave the way for the emergence of the open metaverse,” said Yat Siu, co-founder and executive chairman of Animoca Brands. “We are deeply honoured to continue to enjoy strong investor support as we work to solidify Animoca Brands leadership position in the Web3 industry and in the field of true digital ownership.”　　Animoca Brands, known for its support of some of the most popular Web3.0 gaming protocols, such as Axie Infinity and The

2022-07-15Deep Dive

...

214216

...

736